


it's not easy being green

by alcego



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Cuddling, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Keith: Being Petty, Kissing, Lotor: the Voice of Reason, M/M, Passive-Aggressive Sneezing, Passive-Aggressive Snuggling, Sickfic, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-03
Updated: 2018-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-12 17:27:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28639275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alcego/pseuds/alcego
Summary: No matterwhatLotor says, Keith's not that sick. But Lotor is having exactly none of Keith's nonsense, and Keith knows when he's been beat. There's no high road to take in a situation like this, so Keith takes the low road. He's pleasantly surprised by where it takes him.A fic forAretiaforVLD Positivity Day!
Relationships: Keith/Lotor
Kudos: 4





	it's not easy being green

**Author's Note:**

> > `NOTE: This fic was originally posted to my account in 2018, but during a moment of, shall we say, incredible hatred for my older works, I orphaned the vast majority of my works on AO3 a few years ago. I regret that decision now, and have backdated and uploaded the identical works here to make up for it. You can still find the original fics under an orphaned penname, but I wanted to have them back on my account, so we are.`

If there’s one thing Keith hates more than being sick, it's being sick and being able to do absolutely nothing about it. See, it’s one thing to catch a cold and go about your business anyway and quite another thing entirely to catch a cold and be bullied into bed-rest by your well-meaning but over-cautious partner.

_”Keith,” Lotor had said. “You need rest.”_

_Huffing, Keith had wiped his stupid runny nose on his arm and continued to tie his running shoes. “I’m fine,” he’d said. “It’s just a little cold.” Except that the words had been warped by Keith’s traitorous cottony tongue, and they’d sounded one heck of a lot more like,_ “I’b fing. Id’s jud a libble cold,” _which was really unfair, all things considered, because Keith was_ fine.

_“Perhaps I would be more inclined to believe you,” Lotor had said, wholly unimpressed, “if you could speak without garbling your words.”_

_Keith had responded with a lewd one-handed gesture._

Suffice to say Keith had lost that argument. Now, as he sits swaddled in a cocoon of blankets and petulance, Keith is making sure that he sneezes often and loudly. And, while the awkward breaks in Lotor’s research are by no means bringing Keith any satisfaction, he can’t deny that the pettiness lining his stomach is enjoying his choice of entertainment.

Keith can explain why he's doing this, really. He hates being cooped up, and bed rest is its own personal kind of hell. Keith might have lost the battle for his freedom, but he's not just gonna _sit here_ and twiddle his thumbs. Considering that the fatigue that always came alongside sickness had kicked in a while ago, it might be a good idea to just go to sleep.

‘Course, Keith isn’t exactly known for doing the smart thing. And, since he’d realized that the breaks in Lotor’s research weren't actually caused by his discomfort but intense temple rubbing sessions, Keith had decided to continue annoying Lotor. Maybe if he keeps it up for long enough, Lotor will relent and let Keith get up and _do something._

Remembering how their last discussion about that particular subject had gone (”Why d’you geb dho do stubb?” “Because I’m not sick, and this research will not complete itself.”) Keith doubts that anything will come of his harassment. But it’s something to do, so he might as well keep doing it.

Besides, the look on Lotor’s face when Keith manages a series of sneezes (not all of which had been faked) that lasted for well over a minute is absolutely _priceless._

———

Keith’s pretty sure that being sick is the worst thing that can ever happen to him (excluding all clauses and nightmare fantasies in which Shiro leaves and never comes back) and this? Waking up in the middle of the afternoon and feeling like he’s gone another ten rounds with Zarkon? Well, it’s not how Keith wants to be spending his afternoon.

On the other hand (and the other side of the bed), there’s Lotor, who’s dozing with a small, battered paperback book in a language Keith will never be able to understand lying against his chest as if he doesn’t have a care in the world. Which isn’t right, of course, because he’s Lotor and Lotor has a plan for literally everything, but the soft look on his face sure puts up a convincing front.

Apparently, Lotor can even lie when he’s sleeping. And, huh, Lotor really is asleep, isn’t he? Keith grins as the petulant bubble monster in his stomach perks up.

And then Keith sneezes, loud as he’s ever sneezed before, and it’s not entirely an accident.

Lotor hardly even starts, and sighs. “Really?” he grumbles, and Keith’s really gotta be around when Lotor wakes up more often, because goddamn… Lotor’s sleep-husked voice is on a whole nother level.

“Yub,” Keith says instead of literally everything else he wants to say. Another time, maybe, but not today.

Clearly still mostly asleep, Lotor rolls onto his side with all the grace of Lance around a pretty girl, and then he shifts closer to Keith… and then closer still… and then Lotor’s wrapping his limbs around Keith in what’s gotta be the most passive-aggressive snuggle-fest initiation that there’s ever been.

Keith squawks and squirms, but he doesn’t try to get away. Not with Lotor pressed up against his side like this, warm against Keith's back. And Keith's most definitely not pulling away as he wriggles until they're looking at each other face to face. And he's doing the exact opposite of pulling away when he presses his forehead against Lotor's and kisses him on the lips a moment later.

Lotor's wonderful, soft lips cant into a smirk, and Keith’s stomach flips. Then Lotor leans in and kisses Keith back, and his stomach does a series of real complicated maneuvers that leave Keith flustered because this is ridiculous! It's not as if they've never kissed each other before—

“You’re going to get me sick,” Lotor mumbles.

“Mmph,” Keith says when Lotor kisses him again. “Baybe.”

Lotor hums for a moment, deliberating, and smiles. “Worth it.”

Honestly, Keith’s never been so happy about annoying someone. (If this was the kinda thrill Lance got out of it, Keith thinks he might understand why Lance grabs every chance to annoy him.) (That’s a lie. Keith will never be able to understand why Lance does anything.)

What with Lotor’s bizarre snuggle-thing turned into kissing and all of Keith’s wriggling to get them to this point, their limbs are really quite tangled together now; they could pass as a vaguely humanoid pretzel if they wanted to. But Keith doesn’t want to because he enjoys kissing Lotor in any situation except for the ones where people can see them. Not for lack of affection or whatever. Keith just thinks of kissing as a private affair is all.

Keith’s mentioned that he hates being sick, right? Especially that stupid, slow-creeping fatigue that slams into him now and makes him _yawn_ into a kiss, much to Lotor’s amusement.

“Tired, are we?”

“Shuddup,” Keith says, and Lotor obliges him by pressing another kiss against Keith’s lips, and then another on Keith’s forehead.

Somehow, despite their pretzeled state, Lotor’s managed to cup the back of Keith’s head in his hand, and he holds Keith close. Wriggles some more so that Keith is pressed comfortably against his chest. Whispers, “Rest,” in that same voice from earlier, only this time it’s not a sleepy husk that’s crept into his words, and Keith takes no little amount of pride in that fact.

That bubble monster pokes its head back up, and Keith grins. “Thought you had stuff to do.” _“Boughd you had stubb dou do.”_

“Yes,” Lotor says, and Keith’s stomach drops. “And it can wait.” And, if Lotor pulls him in closer after that, and if Keith presses a kiss worth a thousand words into Lotor’s chest, there's no one there to see.

**Author's Note:**

> listen my guys i wanted to make this fic longer bc Potential but,, it felt right to keep it short and sweet and to the point and i am Honestly abt to go the fuck to sleep bc i've slept for a grand total of 2 hours over the past 4 days and i am Toired!! i'd love to hear what everyone thinks abt this ficlet! so feel free to leave me feedback here or at my tumblr!


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